We’ve got to be tough on Clarkson says Radio 1 boss

THE BBC is facing mounting pressure not to let Jeremy Clarkson off the hook if its investigation concludes that he did punch a Top Gear producer.

Ben Cooper, controller of BBC Radio 1, said yesterday that he wouldn’t expect members of his family to put up with such treatment at work and that the allegations must be ‘dealt with in a very serious way’.

‘If my son or daughter went to a place of work where they were shouted at, abused and someone threw a punch at them, then I would want there to be an inquiry and I would want that to be dealt with in a very serious way,’ he said. Tory MP John Whittingdale also waded into the row last night, warning that the BBC should not make any special allowances for Clarkson, pictured yesterday on his bike, regardless of his show’s popularity.

Mr Whittingdale, chairman of the culture, media and sport select committee, said: ‘Jeremy Clarkson should be given no special dispensation. He should be treated like any other employee at the BBC and the same disciplinary rules should apply to him as to anyone else.’ He added that it would be ‘hard to see the case’ for keeping Clarkson if he is found to have punched producer Oisin Tymon.

Top Gear is sold in more than 200 countries, bringing in around £50million a year for the BBC.

Clarkson was keen to stress his commercial clout in next month’s Top Gear magazine, which was written before the latest row erupted and will go on sale on Friday.

He warned against Top Gear becoming boring, saying: ‘We could talk about fuel economy. And hire purchase plans. But, if we did, we’d be left with almost no viewers in the UK, and no foreign sales.’

Clarkson allegedly punched Mr Tymon when he was offered cold cuts instead of a hot steak after a long day of filming. He is also said to have called the producer a ‘lazy Irish ****’, during what the BBC described as a ‘fracas’. Lord Tony Hall, BBC directorgeneral, is expected to deliver his verdict on Clarkson’s future as soon as today.